PoliticsPa's Alex Roarty has an interesting interview with state GOP chairman Robert Gleason, who is sitting on the sidelines as Sen. Arlen Specter and Pat Toomey go at one another. He told Roarty that the Republican nominee needs to be moderate in order to win in a statewide general election, but quickly added that Toomey fit that bill.

The issue of electability has already come up in the contest and figures to be a continued point of contention as Toomey and Specter slug it out.

But Gleason emphasized during the interview that he thinks Toomey, considered Specter’s main threat, could win a general election just as easily as Specter. The former Club For Growth chief would just need to become more moderate after securing the party’s nomination, as is the case for any candidate, he said.

“I think that he probably would become, he would move to the middle,” Gleason said. “I think he would have to to be elected.

“Can he be elected?” the chairman asked. “Of course he can be elected.”

UPDATE: In the same interview, Gleason spilled a conversation he had with Toomey two months ago in which Toomey told the party chairman that he wasn't interested in a Senate run because he didn't "want to be number 100 and vote 'no' on everything."

Gleason said after hearing Toomey had changed his mind about a run for governor, he wanted to find out why.

“So I called him and said, ‘Well, what happened with that?’” Gleason said.

Toomey responded, the chairman said, by saying many of political donors had encouraged him to run against Specter. Toomey added that when the senator backed the stimulus, his decision was made.

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Gleason is not sitting on the sidelines he was spotted by someone at a Specter Fundraiser in Pittburgh at the house of Elsie Hilman. Here is the story:
Turzai eyes Altmire seat
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review - ‎Apr 18, 2009‎
SPECTER FUNDRAISER. So which local notables attended the $500-per-person fundraiser Pittsburgh philanthropists Henry and Elsie Hillman hosted at their ...